Macquarie St pays tribute
"He was that rare combination of a great mind and a great heart, and he put all of his gifts at the service of those who needed them."
A motion was moved in the NSW Legislative Council last Wednesday night to honour the memory and contribution of Jewish community stalwart Jeremy Jones.
The director of international and community affairs at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) and former ECAJ president and life member passed away on September 6, aged 64.
The motion recognised Jones as a “world leader on racism, especially antisemitism”, his work in promoting interfaith dialogue which saw him receive several awards, and “the great contribution” he made to his community, “both locally and internationally”.
“He will be missed by all who knew him for his warmth, his kindness, his genuine respect for others and his intellect,” the motion stated.
Moving the motion, Liberal MLC Susan Carter said, “He was an intellectual in the best sense of that word and was an articulate defender of respect and justice for all.
“He was that rare combination of a great mind and a great heart, and he put all of his gifts at the service of those who needed them.”
Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council Penny Sharpe said, “He was genuinely interested in the people he met, the thoughts they had and how they could contribute with him to making New South Wales a better place for all of us to live.”
Deputy NSW Liberal Leader Natalie Ward noted that Jones was the first Australian to serve on the board of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, where he worked on establishing dialogues between different faiths.
“It is striking and important that Nur Munir of the Nahdlatul Ulama, one of the world’s largest Muslim organisations by membership, paid tribute to Jeremy for his work on interfaith dialogue,” she said.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said Jones “was one of a kind”.
“Jeremy was a leading light of the Australian-Jewish community and a driving force for tolerance and multiculturalism,” he said.
“His contributions were incredibly wide ranging and too many in number to begin to do justice to in my limited time.”
Liberal Shadow Minister Scott Farlow said Jones “lived a life of inclusion and was somebody known throughout broader society, not just the Jewish community, as somebody who brought people together”.
“He was a true humanitarian,” he said.
While she didn’t know Jones personally, Labor MLC Sarah Kaine said, “What I take as a lesson from his life is commitment to anti-racism, Indigenous reconciliation, interfaith dialogue, multi-faith collaboration and promotion of a kinder, more caring Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and the world.”
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